Collapsible container



Nov. 16, 1937. H. JEZLER 2,099,523

COLLAPSIBLE CONTAINER Filed Aug. 22, 1936 a air Patented Nov. 16, 1931 UNITED,- STATES coLLAPsIBLs CONTAINER Hubert Jezler, Zurich, Switzerland, assignor to the firm Inga Internationale Nahrungsund Genussmittel-Aktiengesellschaft Schafthouse,

Switzerland Application August 22, 1936, Serial No'.- 97,367 In Switzerland July'23, 1 936 2 Claims.

This invention rel-atesto collapsible containers for squeezing out pastes or liquids contained therein through a dispensing opening thereof.

The object of the inventionis to provide a. collapsible container which in many cases replaces to advantage metal' tubes owing to its pleasing aspect, even in the partly or completely emptied condition thereof, as well as the small cost at which it can be manufactured and its consider ably increased resistance against exterior damaging and the more convenient handling.

According tothe present invention, I make provision for accomplishing this result by the fact that by compressing the container a flexible portion of its wall is flattened or concaved at the point of application of the pressure, so that, on the cavity gradually increasing, the said wall portion is forced into interengagement with an oppositely disposed portion of the container wall.

In the accompanying drawing one form of the invention is illustrated by way of example only, in which the single figure shows a longitudinal section through one embodiment of my invention.

The collapsible container illustrated is provided with two thin lateral wall portions l and 2 which are connected to one another along their margins so that each of them assumes the shape of a calotte in the filled condition of the container. In the marginal portions of the wall portions l and 2 a dispensing stud 3 is inserted which can be opened and closed respectively by means of a cover 4, in conventional manner. When the container, which has been filled, for example, with a paste or the like, is compressed downwardly thereof, at A, by means of two fingers straddling the same, one of the calottes is concaved and, on the pressure being maintained, is forced into interengagement with the opposed calotte, thereby squeezing out a corresponding amount of the paste or the like present in the container, through the opened stud 3. On the cavity thus formed being gradually increased, due to correspondingly compressing the container at the concaved wall portion, the respective calotte is accordingly forced more and more into interengagement with the opposed calotte until the calotte 2 finally completely follows the inner contour of the calotte I, when the container is entirely emptied.

The two flattened lateral wall portions l and 2 are connected to each other along their margins and provide a first case portion which, as a matter of particular importance, is made more rigid and resistive against pressure than a second case portion which is less resistive and thus better adapted to change its shape; The difference in resistivity against pressure between these two case portibns-f may be obtained by providing different thicknesses of material for the same, as shown, or else by varying the kind of material used for thertwo case portions. By means of external: lateral pressure: first applied at A only the resilient case portion 2 is concaved so that on the cavity in the same being enlarged more I and more, this case portion is finally forced into the case portion 1 so: as to follow its inner contour completely, until the container is wholly emptied and assumes a collapsed shape.

Due to the fact that one of the case portions of the container is: not adapted to be flexibly collapsed and thus retains its shape unaltered irrespective whether the container is partly or wholly emptied, the latter remains permanently true to its proper form, as originally provided for the container at the case portion facing the user, in contradistinction to a partly or completely squeezed out metal tube.

The plane flattened shape of the container is particularly advantageous as regards packing with a View to utilizing the available space as completely as possible, for the reasons that inserting each container in a solid Wrapper, as necessary for metal tubes, can be dispensed with.

It is obvious that the invention can be applied, not only to circular containers, but depending upon the requirements of practice, also to oval containers, or to containers of rectangular shape with rounded corners. Furthermore, any other suitable shapes may be used for the container.

To provide special resistance of the container against possible damaging from outside a rigid guard strip 6 is provided adjacent to the flexible collapsible lateral wall portion 2 of the container, at the edge of the latter. Such a guard strip may extend along the full length of the circumference. of the container or only along a part of the circumferential length and the form of the container may also in such cases deviate from that of a circle.

A great advantage of the container according to the present invention over the conventional tubes vests in the applicability of different structural materials. While for tubes generally metal, particularly tin, must be used, the application of practically any suitable structural material is feasible to the container according to the invention.

The containers according to the invention can be made on the whole of one and the same material, thus for example of aluminium, or else the rigid case portion may be made of a difierent material, for example tinned sheet iron. Furthermore, combinations of entirely different materials are possible, as for example those of a rigid case portion made of impregnated cardboard, papier-mach, or of wood pulp by stamping or in fact any suitable artificial pulpy mass, with a flexible case portion made of metal foil. Moreover, it is possible to make the container according to the invention entirely of non-' metallic material, for example to use an artificial material for the rigid case portion, and impregnated papers, fabrics, foils of artificial materials or the like for the resilient case portion.

Since the possibility exists of making the container according to the invention of such difierent materials, it is obvious that also widely different modes of connecting the two case portions with one another can be applied, as for example folding, rolling, bordering, pasting and so forth, while on the other hand, the usual soldering may rarely be practised.

Case portions of non-metallic materials are, as a rule, held together by bordered metal rings.

;. The dispensing stud of the container is advantageously pressed into position between the two case portions, but may also be secured to the rigid case portion.

I do not limit myself to the particular size, shape, number or arrangement of parts as shown and described, all of which maybe varied without going beyond the scope of my invention as shown, described and claimed.

What I claim is:

1. A collapsible dispensing container for pastes and liquids, including a pair of Walls of dish shape having their peripheries juxtaposed and secured together, said walls being bowed in opposite directions to form a chamber, said chamber having a dispensing outlet, one of said walls being of comparatively stiff structural material to provide relatively high resistance against external pressure, and the other wall being of flexible material whereby upon the application of external pressure thereto it may be forced inwardly into substantially continuous engagement with the other wall to force out the contents of said chamber, and a rigid guard strip secured to said first mentioned wall and overlying and protecting the marginal portions of said second mentioned wall but leaving the center portion exposed for the application of pressure thereto.

2. A dispensing container for pastes and liquids, including a pair of relatively stiff members secured together at their peripheries and diverging in opposite directions from their connected. peripheries, one of said members having a comparatively large central opening therethrough, and a flexible wall between said members and having its periphery secured between the peripheries of said members and normally bowed to substantially follow the contour of the apertured rigid member and to form with the other member a chamber, said chamber having a dispensing outlet, and said container being adapted to be collapsed by the application of external pressure through said opening and on said flexible Wall.

HUBERT JEZLER. 

